Remaster of 2005 PS2 Game Just Stealth Released

A remaster of a 2005 PS2 game just got a stealth release, bringing it to a brand new platform for the first time. Unfortunately, like the original release, this new one is still only in Japanese. It’s available in Western markets, but it has not been localized, which means unless you know Japanese, you will not be able to play it. Right now, there is no word of any localization effort. This new stealth release comes courtesy of PC, but the remaster was already released on Switch, PS4, and PS5 back on June 25. That is to say, there’s been time to get an English localization, but so far nothing has happened on this front.

Those on PC and who speak Japanese will be happy to know that 21 years later, a remaster of KID Corp and CyberFront Corporation’s 2005 sci-fi romance visual novel, My Merry May With Be, is now available on PC via Steam for the first time ever for anyone with $40 to spare. For those who do not know, the 2005 release — which this is a remaster of — is actually a compilation release that features 2002 Sega Dreamcast exclusive, My Merry May, and 2003’s My Merry Maybe, a PS2 and Sega Dreamcast game. This compilation was only on PS2 until 2010, when it came to PSP. Then it was dormant until this year.

A PS2 Visual Novel

If there is a re-release that illustrates the times, it is this one. Developers and publishers are digging deep into the libraries of these legacy consoles to come up with new re-releases. And this is because, compared to new game development, they are safer investments due to low costs and built-in audiences. There are many great PS2 games that have yet to be unearthed, but they are being held by publishers who have larger priorities or are tied up in a licensed mess.

As for this new release, it comes the way of Mages. It is unclear if this is simply a means to a quick buck or if there are larger plans to revive this franchise. While visual novels are more popular than ever, this is mostly because video games are more popular than ever. Compared to the relative size of the industry, visual novels arguably peaked in the late 1990s and early 2000s thanks to the various Sega consoles, where they were popular and often exclusive.

$40 is a steep price for these two niche and forgotten visual novel games. This is $20 per game, but $30 seems like a better price point given it’s essentially a bundle, which is supposed to come with a discount.

As for those on Xbox, there remains no word of an Xbox release. There is also no word of a Nintendo Switch 2 release. Of the two, the latter is more likely to happen.

One of the Greatest PS2 Platformers of All Time Turns 25 Today but Still Doesn’t Have a Sequel